Free Will Astrology (8/26/15)

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You like to run ahead of the pack. You prefer to show people the way, to set the pace. It's cleaner that way, right? There's less risk you will be caught up in the messy details of everyday compromise. But I suspect that the time is right for you to try an experiment: Temporarily ease yourself into the middle of the pack. Be willing to deal with the messy details of everyday compromise. Why? Because it will teach you lessons that will serve you well the next time you're showing the way and setting the pace.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Are you ready to revise your ideas about how love works? Would you consider reevaluating your relationship to romance, your approach to intimacy and your understanding of sex? I hope you will not only be willing but also excited to do these things. Now is a favorable time to make changes that will energize your love life with a steady flow of magic for months to come. To get the party started, brainstorm about experiments you could try to invigorate the dynamics of togetherness. Make a list of your customary romantic strategies, and rebel against them all. Speak sexy truths that are both shocking and endearing.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Querencia is a Spanish word with many nuances. At its simplest, it refers to your favorite spot, a place where you long to be. But its meaning can go even deeper. Querencia may be a sanctuary where you feel safe and authentic or a situation that enables you to draw on extra reserves of strength and courage. It's a special kind of home: an empowering shelter that makes you feel that you belong in this world and love your life. Can you guess where I'm going with this message, Gemini? These days you need to be in your querencia even more than usual. If you don't have one, or if you don't know where yours is, formulate a fierce intention to locate it.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The art of effective communication consists of knowing both what to say and what not to say. It's not enough to simply find the words that accurately convey your meaning. You have to tailor your message to the quirks of your listeners. For example, let's say you want to articulate the process that led you to change your mind about an important issue. You would use different language with a child, an authority figure and a friend. Right? I think you are currently at the peak of your abilities to do this well, Cancerian. Take full advantage of your fluency. Create clear, vivid impressions that influence people to like you and help you.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Arthur Conan Doyle first used the term "smoking gun" in a story he wrote more than a century ago. It referred to a time the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes burst into a room to find a man holding a pistol that had just been fired, along with the fallen body of a man who had been shot. Since then, the meaning of "smoking gun" has expanded. Now it's any piece of evidence that serves as compelling proof of a certain hypothesis. If you can't find the cookie you left in the kitchen, and your roommate walks by with cookie crumbs on his chin, it's the smoking gun that confirms he pilfered your treat. I believe this is an important theme for you right now. What question do you need answered? What theory would you like to have corroborated? The smoking gun will appear.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): At least for now, I suggest you suspend the quest for order and refinement and perfection. The wise course of action is to disengage from your fascination with control and instead give yourself to the throbbing, erratic pulse of the Cosmic Wow. Why? If you do, you will be able to evolve faster than you thought possible. Your strength will come from agile curiosity and an eagerness to experiment. Do you remember when you last explored the catalytic wonders of spontaneity and unpredictability? Do it again!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): This is the deepest, darkest phase of your cycle. The star that you will ultimately make a wish upon has not yet risen. Your pet monsters seem to have forgotten for the moment that they are supposed to be your allies, not your nemeses. Smoke from the smoldering embers in your repressed memories is blending with the chill night fog in your dreams, making your life seem like a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a taco. Just kidding about that last part. I wanted to see if your sense of humor is intact, because if it is, you will respond resiliently to all the cosmic jokes in your upcoming tests.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): According to the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, here's what God says to each of us: "Go the limits of your longing ... Flare up like flame and make big shadows that I can move in. Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final." Whether or not you're on speaking terms with the Creator, this is excellent advice. It's time to give everything you have and take everything you need. Hold nothing back, and open yourself as wide and wild as you dare. Explore the feeling of having nothing to lose, and expect the arrivals of useful surprises.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The sun and the expansive planet Jupiter are currently making a joyful noise in the sign of Virgo, which is your astrological house of career and ambition. This does not necessarily mean that a boon to your career and ambition will fall into your lap, although such an event is more likely than usual. More importantly, this omen suggests that you will influence luck, fate and your subconscious mind to work in your favor if you take dramatic practical action to advance your career and ambitions.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): On August 28, 1963, Capricorn hero Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech to a crowd of thousands in Washington, D.C. In that address, he imagined what it might look like if African Americans were free of the bigotry and oppression they had endured for centuries at the hands of white Americans. In accordance with your astrological potentials, I encourage you to articulate your own "I Have a Dream" vision sometime soon. Picture in detail the successful stories you want to actualize in the future. Visualize the liberations you will achieve and the powers you will obtain.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): If you have been patiently waiting for a propitious moment to buy a new yacht, pledge your undying love or get a tattoo that depicts Buddha wrestling Satan, now is as close as you'll get to that propitious moment, at least for a while. Even if you have merely been considering the possibility of signing a yearlong lease, asking a cute mischief-maker on a date, or posting an extra-edgy meme on Facebook or Twitter, the next three weeks would be prime time to strike. Diving into a deep, heart-crazed commitment is sometimes a jangly process for you Aquarians, but these days it might be almost smooth and synchronistic.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Ready for a ritual? Get a piece of paper and a pen. Light a candle, take three deep breaths and chant "YUMMMM" five times. Then spend 10 minutes writing down the qualities you would like your perfect lover to possess. Identify both the traits that would make this person unique and the behavior he or she would display toward you. Got that? When you are finished, burn the list you made. Disavow everything you wrote. Pledge to live for at least seven months without harboring fixed beliefs about what your ideal partner should be like. Instead, make yourself extra receptive to the possibility that you will learn new truths about what you need. Why? I suspect that love has elaborate plans for you in the next two years. You will be better prepared to cooperate with them if you are initially free of strong agendas.

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